Adjustable Sieve Shaker for Harvester Crop Load
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Solution Overview
Problem
Agricultural harvesters face inefficiencies and component damage due to continuous side-to-side shaking motion of sieve assemblies, which is necessary at maximum capacity but not required at varying crop loads and slopes, leading to unnecessary wear and tear.
Innovation Solution
An automatic control system adjusts the side-to-side shaking motion of the sieve assembly based on the current crop load and slope, using linear or non-linear proportionate relationships to minimize unnecessary motion and optimize performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If continuous side-to-side shaking motion is applied to the sieve assembly, then material distribution is improved and downhill pooling is prevented, but component wear increases and mechanical stress increases
Solution Approach 1:
The side shaker mechanism is made dynamically adjustable, allowing the control system to vary the amount of side-to-side shaking motion based on real-time operating conditions such as crop load and side slope, rather than operating continuously at fixed amplitude
Solution Approach 2:
The control system receives feedback about current operating conditions (crop load, side slope) and automatically adjusts the side shaker mechanism accordingly, proportionally increasing shaking motion only when and where needed to prevent pooling while minimizing unnecessary wear
2Productivity
If maximum side-to-side shaking motion is used, then cleaning efficiency is improved at maximum capacity, but unnecessary mechanical stress occurs at varying crop loads
Solution Approach 1:
The control system changes the operational parameters of the side shaker mechanism (amount of side-to-side shaking motion) based on the detected crop load and side slope conditions, proportionally adjusting the shaking amplitude to match actual cleaning needs
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of applying full shaking motion continuously, the system applies partial shaking action proportional to the actual crop load and side slope, using only the necessary amount of motion required for effective cleaning under current conditions
3Adaptability or versatility
If adjustable side-to-side movement is implemented, then adaptability to different seed sizes is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The control system provides universal adaptability by automatically adjusting the side shaker mechanism to handle different crop loads and side slope conditions, eliminating the need for manual adjustment mechanisms for different seed sizes while maintaining versatility across various operating conditions
Data Source
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AI summary
An agricultural harvester (10) has a chassis (12) carrying a header (18) for gathering a crop, which is removably attached to a feeder housing (20) for feeding the crop into the agricultural harvester (10) to be processed. A threshing and separating system (24) is connected to the feeder housing (20) for separating grain from Material Other than Grain (MOG) and to a grain cleaning system (26) for further cleaning the separated grain. The grain cleaning system (26) has at least one sieve (46, 48, 50) that oscillates fore and aft and a side shaker mechanism (110) that produces a side to side shaking motion in the at least one sieve (46, 48, 50). A control system (122) is connected to the side shaker mechanism (110) and automatically proportionately increases an amount of the side to side shaking motion as a function of an amount and type of crop being processed.